There have been many designs of bicycle racks developed with the intention of securely holding bicycles and enabling them to be locked to the rack. Examples of some such designs are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,244, 3,964,611, 4,136,782, 4,416,379, 5,292,009 and 5,690,259.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,865,244 and 3,964,611, both to Galen and Vanderpoel, describe a bicycle rack for supporting a bicycle having a channel member for receiving the front and rear wheels of the bicycle. The bicycle rack has a supporting section fixed to the channel number and a pivotally mounted clamping mechanism for clamping the frame of the bicycle to the support member against movement relative to the support member. Wheel locking bars also provided for clamping the front and rear wheels in the channel member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,782, describes a wall-mounted rack for storing a bicycle. The rack has a horizontal bracket mounted to a wall, the bracket being just wider than the tire of the bicycle to be stored. The rack is also provided with a rail perpendicular to the bracket mounted to the wall, the rail being provided with a slide that can be adjusted along the vertical length of the rail and a hook for suspending the bicycle with the wheels placed upon the horizontal bracket hinged to the slide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,379, describes a bicycle storage device having a wheel-receiving channel adapted to receive the front and rear wheels of the bicycle. The device is provided with a bicycle wheel-engaging hook mounted on one end of the channel to engage the front wheel of the bicycle and support the bicycle within the channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,009, describes a bicycle rack having channel member with a wall on one side and a stepped base. The bicycle rack has a retaining and locking means o hold a bicycle within the rack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,259, describes a modular bicycle rack system useful for a vehicle having a pair of rooftop transverse load bars spaced along the length of the vehicle. The rack system includes a channel member for containing the wheels of the bicycle and clamping members for clamping the wheels within the channel member and for clamping the frame to the modular bicycle rack system.
There still remains a need for a simple to use bicycle rack which enables storage of a bicycle and which is capable of allowing the bicycle to be locked to the rack.